5.  The applicants, who are all siblings, were born in 1939, 1927, 1934, 1931, 1924, 1949 and 1949, respectively. They live in Tirana and Vlora.
6.  During the communist regime several plots of land owned by the applicants’ parents had been confiscated by the authorities without compensation. The property measuring in total 132 hectares was situated in the Vlora region on the southern Albanian coast.
7.  On 30 March 1994, pursuant to the Property Act, the applicants lodged a request with the Vlora Commission on Restitution and Compensation of Properties (Komisioni i Kthimit dhe Kompensimit të Pronave, “the Vlora Commission”) seeking the allocation of the original property to them.
8.  On 27 August 1996 the Vlora Commission assigned to the applicants jointly, as co-owners, 14 hectares (2 hectares per person) of the property (“relevant property”). The decision was signed by four out of the seven members of the Vlora Commission.
9.  Notwithstanding this, and based on the Commission’s decision, on an unspecified date the applicants registered the relevant property with the Vlora Land Registry.
10.  On 28 December 1998 they applied to the Vlora Commission requesting the issuance of a new document complying with formal legal requirements, namely, a document duly signed by all of the Commission’s members.
11.  On 6 January 1999, by document no. 76, the President of the Vlora Commission replied to the applicants, informing them that the Commission had already confirmed their title in its decision of 27 August 1996. In any event, pursuant to the laws in force at the material time, competence for any formal correction of the Commission’s documents lay with the courts.
12.  On 25 November 1996 the Ministry of Tourism, by decree no 20/2, (“the decree”), leased a plot of land (part of the applicants’ property) to A.L., for tourism purposes.
13.  On 29 December 1997 the applicants brought an action before the Tirana District Court to quash the decree.
14.  On 17 February 1998 the Tirana District Court annulled the decree on the ground that the transaction concerned private property.
15.  On 16 June 1998 the Tirana Court of Appeal quashed the District Court’s decision and upheld the validity of the decree, stating that the Commission’s decision of 27 August 1996 had been invalid in that it had not complied with formal requirements. Consequently, the applicants could not claim title to the relevant property.
16.  On 10 June 1999, following an appeal by the applicants, the Supreme Court quashed the Court of Appeal’s judgment of 16 June 1998 on the ground that it had been illogical and sent the case back to the Court of Appeal for re-hearing.
17.  On 10 November 1999 the Tirana Court of Appeal, following a re-hearing, rejected the applicants’ action on the ground that it had been lodged with the District Court after the one-month time-limit stipulated by law had expired.
18.  On 17 January 2001 the Supreme Court upheld the Court of Appeal’s judgment.
19.  Meanwhile, on 9 October 1997 the Vlora Commission allocated to K.B. - A.L.’s mother - as compensation, the same plot of land that the Ministry had previously leased to her son.
20.  On an unspecified date K.B donated the land to her son.
21.  Following a request by A.L., by order no. 3 dated 11 June 1999, the Vlora Land Registry cancelled the applicants’ title to this plot of land and registered A.L. as the owner.
22.  On 13 December 1999, following a civil action brought by A.L., the Vlora District Court declared null and void the Vlora Commission’s decision of 27 August 1996 which had allocated the ownership of the plot of land to the applicants on the ground that it had not been issued in compliance with formal requirements (see the findings of the Tirana Court of Appeal decision of 16 June 1998).
23.  On 17 March 2000 the Vlora Court of Appeal upheld the District Court’s decision and reasoning, adding that the Vlora Commission had exceeded its jurisdiction in taking decisions about properties which the State had assigned for tourism purposes.
24.  On 17 January 2001 the Supreme Court confirmed that the Vlora Commission’s decision was null and void, on the ground that it had not been issued in compliance with formal requirements. It was consequently of no effect as regards the applicants or other third parties. Notwithstanding this, it quashed the judgments given at first and second instance and discontinued the proceedings.
25.  On 18 April 2000 the applicants initiated proceedings with the Vlora District Court seeking the annulment of the decision of the Vlora Commission in K.B.’s favour. On 6 February 2001 the Vlora District Court dismissed the applicants’ request on the ground that the Vlora Commission’s decision in their favour had been declared null and void by the Vlora District Court’s decision of 13 December 1999.
26.  On 25 May 2001 the Vlora Court of Appeal, having examined the applicants’ appeal, rejected the applicants’ argument as to the nullity of the Commission’s decision allocating the land to K.B. on the ground that it was unsubstantiated. It also rejected their second request, holding that an irregular act, even if not considered formally invalid, as in this case, should not have any legal effect.
27.  On 6 March 2003 the Supreme Court quashed the first and second instance decisions in part. It dismissed the applicants’ request for a declaration that the Vlora Commission’s decision allocating the plot of land to K.B. was null and void, on the ground that its nullity could only be determined once a valid decision determining the applicants’ rights over the land had been taken. It accordingly ordered the Vlora Commission to issue a decision vis-a-vis the applicants in compliance with the formal requirements.
28.  On 14 April 2004 the Vlora District Court, upon a request by the applicants, issued an enforcement order instructing the Vlora Commission to comply with the Supreme Court’s judgment of 6 March 2003.
29.  On 10 May and 2 September 2004 the Commission informed the Bailiffs’ Office that they had not issued the decision ordered in the Supreme Court judgment due to the fact that the applicants had failed to submit the documents necessary to enable a legally correct decision to be taken.
30.  On 27 August 2004 the Bailiffs’ Office once again brought to the Vlora Commission’s attention the enforcement order issued on 14 April 2004.
31.  On 12 May and 6 September 2004 the Bailiffs’ Office invited the applicants to comply with the Commission’s requests and to submit the documents relating to their property claims.
32.  The applicants then informed the Bailiffs’ Office and the Vlora Commission that they had already submitted the necessary documents at the time the Commission had decided in 1996. Moreover, they were reluctant to submit the requested documents since they disagreed with any suggestion that their case had to be decided ex novo. In their opinion, the Supreme Court’s judgment only required the formalisation of the decision of 1996.
33.  On 29 May 2006 the Vlora Commission decided not to consider the case for apparent insufficiency of documentation and on 30 November 2006 it sent the case for further consideration to the National Committee for the Restitution and Compensation of properties.
34.  On 5 April 2007 the National Committee, now known as the Agency for the Restitution and Compensation of properties (“the Agency”) informed the applicants that, notwithstanding that the Commission file was in fact complete, it had decided to stay the proceedings until the Government had issued the appropriate plans for the properties’ valuation.